20VC: James Cameron @ Accel on Building Great Startup Communities and The Rise of Enterprise and Cyber Security Software
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
The Twenty Minute VC
4.4 ā¢ 637 Ratings
šļø 20 January 2016
ā±ļø 27 minutes
šļø Recording | iTunes | RSS
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Summary
James CameronĀ is an early stage investor atĀ Accel where heĀ focuses on enterprise software, security, fintech and marketplace businesses. Prior to joining Accel, he founded and ranĀ BipSync, a SaaS-based research platform for investment management. James also spent time on the tech banking team at Morgan Stanley and as a corporate lawyer at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in London, Shanghai and Hong Kong.
1.) How JamesĀ made his way into the world of startups and investing?
2.) How does James go about finding the needles in the haystack in the sea of amazing startups?Ā Do James use data to find great companies? Do you think this will be a continuing trend, in terms of algorithmic deal sourcing?
3.) What cool stuff has JamesĀ been seeing in the enterprise software and security sector?Ā Does James think there are any underhyped or overhyped segments of these markets?
4.) One very dominant eco system for tech in general but specifically security is Israel, how do the UK and Israeli ecosystems differ? Is there anything we can do in the UK to harness the spirit encapsulated by the Israeli ecosystem?
5.) What are the catalysts or drivers of these communitiesā growth? Do you agree with Marc Andreesen in saying we shouldn't think about building "The Silicon Valley of X" because the components that make up SV aren't repeatable and areas should instead specialize on specific verticals, like bitcoin or security. What do you think about that concept?
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome back to the 20 minute VC with your host Harry Stebbings. |
| 0:04.6 | And following our episode with the awesome Fred Destin, we are back in the land of Excel. |
| 0:09.8 | And joining me today in the hot seat is James Cameron, early stage investor at Excel, |
| 0:14.4 | where he focuses on enterprise software, security, fintech and marketplace businesses. |
| 0:20.1 | And prior to joining Excel, James founded and ran BipSink, |
| 0:24.0 | a SaaS-based research platform for investment management. James also spent time on the tech banking team |
| 0:29.8 | at Morgan Stanley and as a corporate lawyer at Freshfields in London, Shanghai and Hong Kong. |
| 0:35.7 | But before we dive into the show today, I have two thank yous to make. |
| 0:39.8 | Firstly, I'd like to thank the entire Excel team in London for being so fantastic with the show. |
| 0:45.1 | Sonali, Michael, Luciana, an absolute pleasure to meet you, and a huge thank you for making |
| 0:49.8 | the 20-minute VC so welcome in Axel's offices. |
| 0:53.1 | And then a huge thank you to Mattermark for providing |
| 0:55.7 | all the data and analysis for today's show. Anyone looking for more startup and VC reading material, |
| 1:01.9 | check out the amazing Mattermark Daily by Nick Frost, who can be found at Thinker on Twitter |
| 1:07.0 | for all the best startup and VC articles. However, it is now time to dive into the show |
| 1:12.3 | today. Therefore, I'm delighted to welcome James Cameron at Excel. |
| 1:21.2 | You have now arrived at your destination. James, absolutely fantastic to have you on the show for the second |
| 1:28.6 | instalment of Axel Feature Week. Thank you so much for joining us. I see joining us. I'm actually |
| 1:33.5 | joining you in the Axel's office, but thank you for having me. No worries. It's great to be here. |
| 1:38.1 | Thanks, Harry. Now, I'd love to kick off by hearing how you made your way into the wonderful world |
| 1:43.3 | of VC. |
| 1:45.0 | Well, I guess, you know, I know most people come on your show and they sort of talk about |
... |
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